Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change Week 5: Final Weekly Review and Overall Project Reflection

Photo from Zazzle.com

My SMART goal: I will shower for 5 minutes everyday for the next 5 weeks.
This week I did pretty well in achieving my SMART goal. The week was about half; with me achieving it 4 times.

Successes and Challenges:
I was successful for half the week. I used my phone to set an alarm so I would turn off the shower at the right time. When I needed to shave I turned the water off. It was still really challenging to shower in 5 minutes. I did go over that a couple of times but overall I did better than last week.

What Feelings did you experience?
I felt pretty good the whole week. Even though I didn't always make my time I still was always under ten minutes at least so it felt good to save water.

What did you learn this week?
I learned that the more you practice a behavior the easier it is to change that behavior into a habit.

What are your plans for next week?
This project is done this week but I will continue with my SMART goal.

Review of entire process:

My SMART goal was: I will shower for 7 minutes everyday for the next 5 weeks. I changed my SMART goal once from 7 minutes to 5 minutes.

The things that helped me to be successful were using an alarm to time myself in the shower so I knew when I had to get out. Also, just knowing I had a goal to keep made me shower faster. It was challenging at first to shower for only 7 minutes but once I got used to it, it just became habit. It's still hard for me to shower for 5 minutes. When I needed to shave I just turned off the water so I wouldn't go over my time limit.

From this project I learned how easy it is to change a behavior if you really try to change it. I learned that I used to take showers that were way too long and I save gallons of water just by showering for a shorter amount of time. Behavior changes have to be worked on; they aren't something that is going to happen overnight. For a behavior to change, you have to keep trying to change the behavior until it becomes a habit.

The environment benefited from my project because I saved tons of water from being wasted. By conserving water I helped to reduce water pollution. I also saved energy that is used to heat the water.

I will continue this behavior because it has become natural now for me to shower for only a little while. However, I will probably shower 7 minutes and not 5 minutes. I think it's important that I keep conserving water by lessening my shower time.

For anyone making a lifestyle change, I recommend that they pick something that they really want to change or something they really care about. It's so much easier to make a lifestyle change if you really want to. I would also recommend to keep trying if it doesn't work at first because it's very likely that the change will not happen right away.

Blogged for the Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change Week 5 hosted by Amy@Amy in the Rain

Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change Week 4: Weekly Update

My SMART goal for this week was: I will shower for 5 minutes every day.
I did not do very well in achieving this goal this week.

Successes and Challenges:
I only had success one day. It was really hard to only shower for five minutes. I don't think it's enough time. I usually would shower for 6 minutes. I tried to shower really fast but it's hard!

What feelings did you experience?
I felt a little frustrated because I was able to shower in 7 minutes last week but this week it was more difficult to do in 5 minutes.

What did you learn this week?
This week I learned that 6-7 minutes is the perfect amount of time to shower.

What are your plans for next week?
Even though this week was hard, I still plan to try to shower in 5 minutes. I think it is possible, I just have to try more. I want to be a little more successful with this goal in the next week.



Blogged for the Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change Week 4 hosted by Amy@Amy in the Rain

Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change Week 3:Weekly Update

My SMART goal: I will shower for 7 minutes everyday.

Successes and Challenges:
I was successful this entire week. I didn't go over 7 minutes showering in the past week. I didn't really have any challenges.

Feelings I experienced:
I felt really good about myself because I was able to achieve my goal. It is becoming easier and easier to shower for a short amount of time.

What I learned:
This week I learned that it is easy to shower for less than ten minutes. There's no reason to stand around in the shower wasting water!

For next week, I think I will modify my goal. I am going to try to shower for only 5 minutes! That should make it a little more challenging but I think I can do it.

Blogged for the Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change Week 3 hosted by Amy@Amy in the Rain

Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change Week 2: Weekly Update

My SMART goal for this Lifestyle change is: "I will shower every day for 7 minutes." I think I have done a good job achieving this goal so far.

Successes:
Overall, I think I was successful in my goal. I even showered in less than 7 minutes one time. I set an alarm on my phone for 7 min from the time that I turn on the water in the shower. This helps me shower faster since I know that I am being timed. I also do not want the alarm to wake up my roommates in the morning, so I get out of the shower right when it goes off so I can turn it off.

Challenges:
This goal is challenging for me because I like to take my time in the shower; especially now that it's cold out! I get up early in the morning to shower, so it is hard to make myself move fast in the morning. If I do not put the volume on my phone on high then I do not hear it and accidentally shower a couple minutes longer. To deal with this I just put the volume on high, which makes me move faster because I don't want to wake up my roommate with my loud alarm.

Feelings I experienced:
I usually feel good about myself when I managed to get done in the 7 minutes. It feels like I accomplished a lot! I only really get frustrated if I hear the alarm go off and I'm not done showering.

What I learned:
This week I learned that it is possible to shower under 20 minutes.

Plans for next week:
For next week I will keep my goal the same because I did go over the time limit by a minute or so a couple times. If next week goes well then I will modify my goal to make it more challenging.



Blogged for the Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change Week 2 hosted by Amy@Amy in the Rain

Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change Week 1: My SMART Goal

For the next 5 weeks I will be changing a behavior. I will make a SMART goal for my behavior change.

My SMART Goal:
I will take 7 minute showers everyday for the next 5 weeks.


Why it's Eco-Chic:
This goal is Eco-Chic because I will be conserving water. By conserving water I will decrease energy use, save gallons of water and reduce water pollution.

Why I chose this behavior:
I chose this behavior because I take a long time in the shower...usually 20 minutes! This is important for me to change because I use a lot of water and I need to be less wasteful. I do not need to spend the amount of time in the shower as I usually do.

Image from Morgue File
Blogged for the Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change Week 1 hosted by Amy@AmyintheRain

New Header

Here is the new header I created for my blog! It's a picture of the Teton Mountains around Jenny Lake in Wyoming. There are trees in it too!